The more that we understand about
the benefits of vitamin D, the more it becomes crystal clear that it
is in a class by itself. It does so many things for the body it is
actually regarded as a hormone. Be sure to read the articles on
this page about Vitamin D. In fact we would go as far as to say that
if you can only afford to supplement on one vitamin supplement, let
it be Vitamin D3. We do not carry Vitamin D2 since Vitamin D3 is
what most health experts recommend. Also while we still carry
Vitamin D3 400 IU, current knowledge suggest that 400 IU is way too
little Vitamin D. Seek an intake recommendation from a health care
practitioner that is keeping up with the latest information. We
carry Vitamin D3 with as much as 5000 IU in one tablet. The other ingredients
in each tablet includes cellulose, calcium carbonate, and calcium stearate.

If you must eat Kosher you should know that
Vitamin D is often scraped of the hide of pigs. You can rest assured
that Freeda Vitamin D is 100% kosher. It is the only Kosher Vitamin
brand that we carry. Freeda is a honest brand; what you see is
what you get.

Thousands of cases of breast and colon cancers might be averted each year if
people in colder climates raised their vitamin D levels, researchers
estimate in a new report.

A number of studies have suggested that vitamin D may be important in cancer
risk. Much of this research is based on cancer rates at different latitudes
of the globe; rates of breast, colon and ovarian cancer, for example, are
lower in sunnier regions of the world than in Northern climates where cold
winters limit people’s sun exposure.

Sunlight triggers the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin, and people who get
little sun exposure tend to have lower stores of the vitamin.

Complementing these studies are lab experiments showing that vitamin D helps
prevent cancer cells from growing and spreading, as well as some clinical
trials in which people given high doses of vitamin D showed lower cancer
risks.

For the new study, researchers at the University of California used data on
average wintertime blood levels of vitamin D and rates of breast and colon
cancers in 15 countries.

They found that rates of the diseases tended to fall as average vitamin D
levels climbed, according to their report in the journal Nutrition Reviews.
The protective effect against colon cancer seemed to begin when blood levels
of vitamin D reached 22 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL); for breast cancer,
that number was 32 ng/mL.

The average late-winter vitamin D level among Americans is 15 to 18 ng/mL,
according to the researchers.

They argue that, based on their data, if Americans were able to maintain a
vitamin D level of at least 55 ng/mL, 60,000 cases of colon cancer and
85,000 cases of breast cancer could be prevented every year. Worldwide,
those figures could be 250,000 and 350,000, respectively.

“This could be best achieved with a combination of diet, supplements and
short intervals—10 or 15 minutes a day—in the sun,” lead study author Dr.
Cedric F. Garland, a cancer prevention specialist at the University of
California San Diego, said in a statement.

No one is recommending that people bake in the sun to reach high vitamin D
blood levels. According to Garland, spending a matter of minutes in the
midday sun, with 40 percent of the skin exposed, is enough. For fair-skinned
people, the researchers estimate that just 3 minutes in the sun can be
adequate, while darker-skinned people may need about 15 minutes.

A lifeguard in Southern California, Garland said, may have little need for
extra vitamin D to reach potentially protective levels, whereas a Northerner
who tends to stay indoors much of the year may need much more.

Garland and his colleagues recommend that, in addition to modest sun
exposure, adults get 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day—which is the “tolerable
upper intake level” set by U.S. health officials.

That limit exists because of the risk of vitamin D toxicity, which causes
elevated calcium levels in the blood and problems such as nausea, weight
loss, fatigue and kidney dysfunction.

NaturalNews) A letter published in the April 30 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine states that almost half of critically ill patients in
intensive care units (ICUs) are deficient in vitamin D, a common thread
increasingly being linked to all sorts of adverse health conditions. Dr.
Paul Lee, an endocrinologist and research fellow at the Garvan Institute of
Medical Research in Sydney, Australia and author of the recent study, admits
a direct correlation between vitamin D deficiency and serious illness; this
is a hypothesis long acknowledged by many in the natural health community
who understand the critical role vitamin D plays in maintaining health and
preventing disease.

A necessary component in perpetuating wellness, vitamin D facilitates proper
blood sugar and calcium levels in the body as well as maintains proper heart
function and gastrointestinal health. It is also said to protect the body
from various infections, osteoporosis, diabetes, and even cancers. Since
vitamin D is naturally present in very few foods, it is best obtained
through skin exposure to sunlight whose UVB rays cause the body to produce
the vitamin naturally and to the proper levels.

According to the Office of Dietary Supplements, the recommended daily
intake, or adequate intake (AI), of vitamin D in healthy adults under 50 is
a mere 200 international units (IU) while the U.S. Institute of Medicine
recommends between 200 IU and 400 IU. While these levels may be adequate in
preventing rickets, they have been found to be far too low in preventing the
major diseases previously mentioned.

Many naturopathic physicians recognize that anywhere between 4,000 IU and
10,000 IU of vitamin D a day is a more appropriate therapeutic range,
considering upper levels of vitamin D are generally recognized to be about
40,000 IU per day, a level far greater than the recommended daily intake
thresholds established by mainstream medicine. Contrary to popular
misperception, vitamin D is not dangerous nor is it toxic. With a
therapeutic index of 10 (40,000/4,000), vitamin D is considered by the
Vitamin D Council to be twice as safe as water in terms of "overdosing". In
other words, vitamin D is safe and beneficial in relatively large amounts.

While sun exposure is the best method of achieving optimal vitamin D levels,
it is difficult during the winter months to get enough exposure to the sun
to generate adequate amounts of it. Due to the increasingly acute angle of
the sun during the winter months, UVB rays have a harder time penetrating
the atmosphere and reaching the skin. Since this time of year is also much
colder, people spend little time outside. These factors have led many to
conclude that this combination of minimal sun exposure and scarce UVB rays,
resulting in severe vitamin D deficiency, facilitates events like the "flu
season" and other seasonal sickness patterns that seem to occur when human
beings are exposed to the least amount of sunlight.

Because of the undeniable connection between vitamin D deficiency and
serious illness, many doctors are now recommending vitamin D
supplementation. However, there are two major forms of vitamin D Ă˘â‚¬"
ergocalciferol (D2) and cholecalciferol (D3). Which one is the best to use?

According to a 2004 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &
Metabolism, cholecalciferol (D3), the animal-derived form of vitamin D that
perfectly matches the human form in terms of conversion to
1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, is more than three times more potent than
ergocalciferol (D2), a plant form that does not properly metabolize to
confer the many benefits of vitamin D. This study is one of many that
illustrates the superiority of vitamin D3 over vitamin D2 in both potency
and effectiveness.

As previously mentioned, sun exposure is by far the preeminent method of
obtaining vitamin D and one should utilize sun exposure as much as possible
to maintain optimal health. Because the human body has a built-in mechanism
for regulating vitamin D conversion, it is impossible to get too much
vitamin D from the sun. Once the body creates the perfect amount, it shuts
off for the day and begins its important protective and healing work. But in
the winter when sunlight is scarce and exposure is limited, vitamin D3
supplementation is a person's best bet for staying healthy.